Robert Brown and Mungo Park : travels and explorations in natural history for the Royal Society / Joel Schwartz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schwartz, Joel S., 1940- author.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Series:

Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden ; v. 122.

Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 0077-8931 ; 122

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Naturalists--Great Britain.

Naturalists.

Natural history--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Natural history.

Natural history--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Scientific expeditions--History--18th century.

Scientific expeditions.

Scientific expeditions--History--19th century.

Brown, Robert, 1773-1858.

Brown, Robert.

Park, Mungo, 1771-1806.

Park, Mungo.

History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xvii, 212 pages : illustrations (mainly color), maps, portraits ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cham : Springer, [2021]

Summary:

Explorer-naturalists Robert Brown and Mungo Park played a pivotal role in the development of natural history and exploration in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This work is a fresh examination of the lives and careers of Brown and Park and their impact on natural history and exploration. Brown and Park were part of a group of intrepid naturalists who brought back some of the flora and fauna they encountered, drawings of what they observed, and most importantly, their ideas. The educated public back home was able to gain an understanding of the diversity in nature. This eventually led to the development of new ways of regarding the natural world and the eventual development of a coherent theory of organic evolution. This book considers these naturalists, Brown, Park, and their contemporaries, from the perspective of the Scottish Enlightenment. Brown's investigations in natural history created a fertile environment for breakthroughs in taxonomy, cytology, and eventually evolution. Brown's pioneering work in plant taxonomy allowed biologists to look at the animal and plant kingdoms differently. Park's adventures stimulated significant discoveries in exploration. Brown and Park's adventures formed a bridge to such journeys as Charles Darwin's voyage on H.M.S. Beagle, which led to a revolution in biology and full explication of the theory of evolution.

Contents:

Scientific Ferment in late Eighteenth Century Edinburgh

Scientific Exploration During Voyages of Discovery

... the plants of Scotland might be equally useful

Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa

A good practical Botanist

So remote a country as New Holland

The Crew labouring under the Same disorder

Mungo Park's Last Journey

A Tedious and Uncomfortable Passage

Prodrommus, Florae Novae Hollandiae

Banks's Librarian

Taking leave of Sir Joseph Banks

Pollen Grains of Clarkis pulchella

Epilogue: The greatest of Banksian botanist-librarians.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Current Copyright Fee: GBP18.06 0.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

3030748588

9783030748586

OCLC:

1243351377

Publisher Number:

99988375902